account suspended and seemingly no way to access customer service to correct the issue

[cjnrun]

In November I opened a new account. Other family/household members are Public Mobile customers as well and haven't had any issues. I thought the service was pretty reliable. However, I am so disappointed in the handling of my new account and the difficulty accessing any kind of help. In November a charge for a Koodo Top Up was applied to my credit card. This was deemed fraudulent by my credit card provider who cancelled the card. Note that all other charges from Public Mobile (for family members) were labelled as such. When my new card arrived I updated the information in my Public Mobile account. I had also signed up for auto pay. Then on January 2nd I received by text a "friendly reminder" encouraging me to sign up for automatic payments. I thought this was odd. So I went to sign into my account, and got a message that it was disabled and to go to Community for assistance. Via Community and Simon all the advice directed me to sign into my account to create a customer service ticket or send a private message...HOWEVER THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE to do when your account is disabled. I tried calling *611 and my pin wasn't recognized, presumably because my account was disabled. While reading on Community I found others have had similar negative experiences and that the Koodo charge that started all of this was probably from Public Mobile. I'm assuming the decision to disable my account was made when the credit card company pursued a charge back. At no time did Public Mobile communicate with me about any of this (the weird billing, the payment not going through, that they were suspending the account), and I was left with no way to contact the company when I discovered there was an issue. Over two days I tried to login with another account but could not seem to post - I guess because of the technical updates in progress.

I would like customer service to contact me - I would like to regain access to my account and phone number. My trust in this company is quite damaged.

[cjnrun]

I'm replying to my own post to give an update, in case anyone else reads it looking for assistance with similar issues. Thank you to the Community members who shared helpful suggestions with me last week. Fortunately in our household we have more than one Public Mobile account, so I was able to login through another to try contacting someone at the company. I still couldn't verify to submit a ticket, nor connect with customer support through Simon, but a few of you shared a link to direct message Customer Support and this worked. Sorin_B replied and followed up quickly about my concerns. I've advocated about the Koodo billing causing confusion (leading to chargebacks), and that abruptly suspending accounts without communicating with customers is an unfair business practice. With Sorin's assistance the situation is now resolved and my account was reactivated. However, if that had been my only account with Public Mobile they would have lost me as a customer. 

[darlicious]

@cjnrun 

This is very unfortunate and you should rightly so ask for compensation but first you will be required to pay for the plan amount for which you did the chargeback with your credit card. You will have to do this buy purchasing a pm voucher for that amount to remit to the CSA from customer support that replies to your message. Having this ready ahead of time will help you get your account and service up and running again quicker if that is possible. Afterwards you can then ask for an equal credit to be applied to your account balance for this giant headache caused by this mislabeled merchant charge on your card.

Below is the only method I use to contact customer support and pre-verify my account details to cut down on the back and forth messaging time with customer support. If you already have a pm voucher you can also include the 12 digit pin code # found on the voucher or a photo of it in your private message so the CSA can apply the payment immediately to get your account reinstated and your services reactivated.

Spoiler

Send a private message...   Contact the CSA's (formerly moderators) by sending a private message and leave a detailed message explaining your issue and the info to verify your account by including the following information:  

1. Full name and address on pm account. ( Or province and postal code for newer accounts.)
2. Email, phone # and pin #.

If  you cannot remember your pin # include at least three ( if they apply)of the following:

1.  Date of birth (n/a on newer accounts.)
2. Last payment, date, amount, type and last 4 digits.
3. Alternate phone number if any.
4. Security question and answer.
5. Plan amount, any add ons or promos on account.
6. Last 4 digits of sim card.
7. Any rewards in your account.
8. Autopay y/n?
9. Account #.
10. Frequently called/texted phone numbers in the last 30 days.  

The average wait time is 2 to 4 hours but be prepared to wait up to 48 hours for non urgent requests. Current wait times are about one hour and are probably even less as I have had some very quick responses in tne past week.

Keep an eye on your private message box the envelope icon next to your avatar for a little number to pop indicating a message from the CSA's (formerly moderators.) Responding promptly will speed up service times.

 Do not post any of this info in the community only in your private messages when communicating or contacting the CSA/Moderator_Team.

  To send a private message to the CSA's (formerly moderators) click below
: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

[Wayne_76]

I have the exact same problem. I would absolutely love to have the phone service I'm paying for.

[Luddite]

@cjnrun  Click this link, while logged to this Community account, to contact the CSAs: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

Then check the SEND box in your private messages; click on the small envelope next to your avatar at the top right of your screen.

Periodically check private messages for a response as the normal email notification is down during the Forum renovation. 

[Anonymous]

 @cjnrun : A chargeback response is the brutal way the company says "oh yeah, you're gonna be like that". And you have to jump through ridiculous hoops to get reinstated. How they see it is that you had a period of time that you ended up having what became free service. But this wasn't your fault. You did everything we should all be doing and that's to protect our payment card from fraud. It's not your fault that they decided in their infinite wisdom to pipe activation charges through their sister company Koodo. Why would you know. Why would you care. You see a charge from a company you're not doing business with. Bam...chargeback. All perfectly within your rights. What you didn't know is what happened in the background.

Sucks

You can try the private message method I'm sure someone has already supplied. It's after hours out east for the managers to do anything for you at this point. Although with todays rollout of this new looking forum, maybe they're around.

Keep at it. This was not your fault.

[cjnrun]

Yep, I know. Can't create a ticket. I thought if it was a payment issue I could pay via *611 but that didn't work either.

[cjnrun]

Thanks - I've tried and it isn't working. 

[cjnrun]

Sorry, cutting and pasting this answer isn't helpful. If you had read my post you would understand that when they disable your account it is not possible to contact customer service or submit a ticket. You are stuck. I've logged in through another account to post in Community and create a ticket, but still can't get verification to work to submit the ticket. It is feeling like a goose chase and I am so unimpressed right now.

[darkomega]

Sadly this is all par for the course here, hope the team solves your issues promptly, these issues sorely need to be fixed.

[Yummy]

---

@cjnrun wrote:Via Community and Simon all the advice directed me to sign into my account to create a customer service ticket or send a private message...HOWEVER THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE to do when your account is disabled. I tried calling *611 and my pin wasn't recognized, presumably because my account was disabled

---

The only way to create a ticket is from here - Community. Click on that bot and type 'ticket' and then follow prompts and click on appropriate.

If you have issue with service, calling 611 will not help. Ticket and 611 are two different things.

[HALIMACS]

@cjnrun 

This is completely unacceptable to have occurred to you.

I would, personally, contact Jade_S, at Public Mobile to express your displeasure with this.

Tag her directly, as the Customer Support Agents will likely just treat this as a chargeback and make you pre-pay and put you through hoops to regain service and use auto-pay.

[hairbag1]

@cjnrun...I don't blame you for being ticked off. Best bet is to click Get Help at top of this page, then Chat with Simon to start process of CSA assistance. I'd ask for your account to be reinstated immediately and request 30 days of service be provided for free.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/contact-an-agent

[Anonymous]

 @J_PM , @Melinda_H : I'm sure you hate getting things from the peanut gallery here but come on. This is #3 that we've read of here. This is absolutely terrible to put good paying customers through for absolutely no fault of their own. Fix it!

 @cjnrun : The above usernames are kind of responsible here. You can register your displeasure with the CSA's also by clicking on the cartoon quote button in the lower right and muddle your way through the chatbot to get to Submit ticket.

[Anonymous]

@cjnrun 

you need to Contact Customer Support Agent by CS_Agent, and Explain your issue to 
them can solve your issue, they are nice Service Team they will help you 100%.

Here’s How To Contact Customer Support Agent,

•  you can send a private message to Customer Support Agent by Click Here link,

• please include in your message,
  
• phone number,
• Email address,

• Customer Support Agent by CS_Agent, will Response to your inbox by private message 
• During business hours, we strive to answer customer messages swiftly. You will often get an answer within an hour. During peak periods, you may need to wait up to 48 hours.Customer Support Agents are available:
  • Monday to Sunday: 6 AM to 10 PM EST
  • Note: Public Mobile No Support by phone call or Email.. only by CS_Agent, private message..
  
  Check your private message inbox (click on the envelope top right of your screen)

         Good Luck.